The Department of Justice announced today that, pursuant to a court-ordered default judgment and final order of forfeiture entered on Jan. 7, it has secured the forfeiture of two luxury Miami condominiums that were maintained, transferred, and leased in violation of U.S. sanctions against Russian national Viktor Perevalov. The forfeited properties have a combined value of approximately $1.8 million.
The judgment is the result of a civil forfeiture complaint filed by the United States in February 2024 seeking the forfeiture of the properties.
“Today’s successful forfeiture once again demonstrates that the attempt to hide assets behind nominees and shell companies is a risky short-term game with real long-term costs,” said Co-Director Michael Khoo of the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture. “The prosecutors and agents who investigated and brought this case are the proof that the United States has the people, the tools, and the will to vigorously enforce our nation’s sanctions programs.”
As alleged in the complaint, Viktor Perevalov and Valeri Abramov were co-founders of VAD, AO, a Russia-based construction company responsible for constructing the Tavrida Highway in the Russian-occupied Crimea Region of Ukraine. On Jan. 26, 2018, pursuant to Executive Order 13685, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Victor Perevalov, Valeri Abramov, VAD, AO, and others following the Russian invasion of Crimea. OFAC added Perevalov, Abramov, and VAD, AO to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) and Blocked Persons List. OFAC never issued a license, which was required for anyone to transact with, or on behalf of, Perevalov and Abramov. Perevalov was also re-designated by OFAC on Dec. 18, 2024, pursuant to E.O. 14024, for operating in the construction sector of the Russian economy.
From in or around January 2018 through in or around March 2023, the condominiums were maintained, transferred, and leased in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Specifically, on or about June 14, 2018, a Miami real estate agent retained to manage the properties transferred the two condominiums owned by Perevalov to a limited liability company set up to obfuscate Perevalov’s interest in the properties. Following the transfer, the properties continued to be leased, generating proceeds used to maintain them.
The FBI Miami Field Office investigated the case with assistance from the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Paster, Marx P. Calderón, and Eli Rubin for the Southern District of Florida, Trial Attorneys Sinan Kalayoglu and Lindsay Gorman of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and Trial Attorney Joshua E. Kurland of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section prosecuted the civil action.
This case was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures that, beginning in 2014, the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2, 2022, and under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will continue to leverage all of the Department’s tools and authorities to combat efforts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.